Five Minutes
by Davies
Summary: A life is lost, and saved. Part Two of the Raye Trilogy.


**Five Minutes**

A great deal can change in five minutes.

Five minutes ago, Serena Tsukino, the one named Sailor Moon, was staring up anxiously at what a more spiritual age would consider a demon. Over to one side of her, Darien Chiba, alias Tuxedo Mask, perched on the branch of a tree, waiting for the perfect moment to make his move. I, Raye Hino, Sailor Mars, was lying on the ground, coming out of a stupor induced by a hit that the demon had scored on me. The demon was looming over Serena, having backed her up against a tree, and was brandishing its clawed hands. The other Sailor Scouts were some distance away, engaged in a fight with the demon's small army of mind controlled humans.

_Now_, the Sailor Scouts have finished their fight, and come racing to this small, almost idyllic glade in the forest, and are staring at the tableau that fate has prepared at them with expressions from shock and disbelief (Lita), revulsion and horror (Mina) and tearful anguish (Amy). The demon's charred remains lie before me, the scent of its roasting flesh assaulting my nostrils. Darien is holding Serena's still form in his arms, and weeping like a wounded child. Serena's cooling body has a large hole in her upper chest where her heart used to be. When last I saw it, the demon was busy crushing it to a pulp.

Serena is dead.

Hindsight affords perfect understanding of these events. I can see, with crystal clarity, each step that has brought us to this point, and I don't have to be a seer to understand what must occur now.

It began about twenty minutes ago. Mina was taking a casual walk in the park when she stumbled onto the demon, busy recruiting troops from the other visitors to the park. She managed to escape, transform to Sailor Venus, and summon the rest of us. I was the first to arrive, about twelve minutes ago, with Serena showing up two minutes later with Lita and Amy. The smart thing to do would have been to have Sailor Moon use the "Healing" power on the demon's troops, but any use of the sceptre drains power from her. And we knew that the fight, like all our fights, would inevitably conclude with Serena using the "Elimination" power on the monster.

**MISTAKE:** Falling into repetitive patterns of strategy.

So it was decided that Serena would go try to destroy the demon, with me as backup, of course, and hope that the demon's destruction would free the people he was controlling. From the sudden absence of the sounds of the fight, I guess we were right on that score.

So we went after the demon, while Sailor Venus, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Jupiter tried to contain and minimize the damage that the "army" did to themselves and others. Amy's ice powers and Mina's "Love Chain Encircle" are good for that sort of thing. Lita wanted to come and back us up against the demon, but Serena insisted that she should hang back in case we needed the really big guns.

**MISTAKE:** Not bringing Lita into conflict with the demon. Waste of resources.

So, about nine minutes ago, I launched the first "Celestial Fire Surround" at the demon, while Serena started to move into position to use the Sceptre. Isn't it a pity that we didn't know the damn thing didn't have any reason to fear fire?

**MISTAKE:** Underestimating the enemy.

He let me fling all my energies against him for about three minutes, before slamming some sort of invisible boulder into me. I suppose Amy would call it telekinesis. All I knew was that I was having a hell of a time breathing.

So that brings us up to where we were, five minutes ago. I have no idea when exactly Darien showed up. Probably he headed here the minute that Serena transformed to Sailor Moon. They are linked like that, you see. They were linked.

Four minutes and forty seconds ago, Serena made some sort of witty yet terrified comment that I didn't quite make out. Four minutes and thirty seconds ago, Darien threw one of his roses in between the demon and Serena.

I remember once that Amy had wondered, before we knew who and what Tuxedo Mask was, why the enemy were so terrified of the roses that he threw. Now, of course, we knew. The roses were a symbol of a love that had survived through death, destruction, and thousands of years. Until now, of course.

Four minutes and twenty seconds ago, all our eyes turned in Tuxedo Mask's direction, as he rose from his crouched position on the branch and began to make one of his trademark speeches.

**MISTAKE:** Not checking to see if the branch could stand up to the sudden movement of someone standing up on it when they had been crouching only a moment before.

The branch snapped. Darien was agile enough to avoid being hurt in the fall, of course, but Serena immediately turned all her attention towards him.

**MISTAKE:** Turning her eyes from the opponent.

Four minutes ago, I watched as the demon's huge clawed hand streaked out, punching through the cloth of Serena's sailor suit instants before it sliced into her breast, snapping through the ribs, and grabbing something small and red and completely unrecognizable as the inspiration for any Valentine's day cards, spraying blood everywhere. Serena made no cry. It was too sudden for her even to whisper Darien's name. She was almost certainly dead before she hit the ground. She may have been dead before he seized hold of her heart - I'm told that the shock of such traumatic wounds can be as lethal as the tissue damage actually inflicted.

Three minutes and fifty five seconds ago, Darien raised his eyes from the ground to stare at the obscene sight of a demon smiling as it crushed Serena's heart in the palm of its hand. The heart made a wet, almost squishy noise as it turned into bloody chunks.

"SEERRRRREEEEEEENNNNNAAAAAAA!"

No voice should ever sound that completely lacking in hope, so filled with pain. No eyes should ever be as empty of any instinct for self preservation as Darien's were as he rushed to grapple with the demon. If he had grappled with the creature, it would almost certainly have torn him to bits.

However, it was time for the demon to make a mistake: _Forgetting that I was there._

A burst of flame more intense than anything I had ever released before slammed into the back of the creature, knocking him over and out of Darien's path. The creature rolled over, and that's when it saw me coming for it.

I remember that the creature looked almost frightened of what it saw in my face, of the expression of utter hatred and desire for its death that was on my face.

I don't think I've ever wanted anyone dead before. I'd hated Zoisite, Kunzite, Nefrite, and Beryl, but I hadn't really desired their deaths. If they had gone away, stopped hurting the people of Earth, I wouldn't have sought them out.

But I wanted this thing dead.

I wasn't thinking coherently at that point, so I don't know how I worked this out. The thing's outer skin was resistant to fire and heat, but what about its internal organs? I landed astride its chest, pinning its arms to the ground with my knees. Its mouth was open, revealing several rows of sharp teeth that would have stopped me if I had been thinking at that point. But I wasn't. I jammed my hand down into the back of the thing's mouth, and released a jet of flame down into its stomach, pulling my arm out and rolling off of it an instant after I did.

It exploded. Black, oily blood sprayed everywhere, including on me. The lower part of its torso separated from the upper in a burst of flame that severed its spine. But since that might not be enough, I decided to keep up the flame for another half a minute, burning it from the inside out.

About three minutes ago, I was finally satisfied that the thing was dead. I turned my weary eyes towards Darien.

He was cradling Serena's corpse in his arms. The mask had fallen off, and I could see his face clearly. I don't think he was even remotely aware of his surroundings. He was whispering something to her, something that I couldn't hear. They were both covered in her blood.

I hadn't expected to feel any great elation when I put an end to the demon, but looking at them, all I could feel was a dull, empty ache. As though somehow, in tearing out her heart, the thing had done the same to me.

It was at that point that the others began to arrive. Amy was first, and her jaw dropped in horror as she saw what had occured. She started towards Serena, as though thinking for one moment that there was something she could do, some medical trick she'd picked up that would make everything better. But Amy, being smart, knew better, and she slowed, stopped, and held her distance. The tears welled up, and began to slowly flow down her cheeks.

Lita limped into the glade next, having taken some sort of blow to her leg. She stared at the two of them. Blinked. Stared again. Started to shake her head. Muttered "no, no, no," over and over again. But Lita is wiser than she seems. Eventually, the muttering stopped as a look of complete loss developed on her face. She didn't cry, though. I don't think I've ever seen Lita cry.

And finally Mina. She'd seen the other two stop suddenly, and with her greater experience, she'd guessed what had happened. So she gave Serena and Darien only a brief look. A single tear trickled down her cheek. Then she turned to look at the demon's remains. A look of disgust grew on those classically beautiful features. She slowly raised her eyes to mine. I was prepared for a look of accusation, of contempt, of "why didn't you save her, you bitch?"

I wasn't, however, prepared in the slightest for the look of calm approval that was in those eyes.

The same questions were on our minds. How were we going to explain this to Serena's family? How were we going to explain this to LUNA?

But we were silent. The only sounds were those of the small woodland creatures, and they were muted, and the sounds of Darien weeping. I guess we knew, deep in our hearts, that nothing we could do would ever explain what had happened.

Or at least, they knew it.

What I know ... is that there is something I can do that will fix it.

The Moon Sceptre is hanging, half-in and half-out, of the "subspace" pocket that Serena stores ... stored it in. Swiftly, before any of the others can guess what I'm about, I reach out, and snatch the sceptre. "Amy," I say quietly, "when I'm done with this, tell Chad ..."

What should she tell him? "Raye loved you?" I don't ... exactly. "Raye nobly laid down her life to save Sailor Moon?" I don't know if that's true yet, and if it works I never will.

"Tell Chad the truth."

"Raye, NO!" Lita's voice rings out. Too late.

I've already activated the Crystal.

I wasn't sure that it would work for me. It's actually only supposed to work for a member of the Royal House of the Moon, which I definitely am not. But I remember, vaguely, watching ... another woman, not Queen Serenity, not Serena, use the Silver Empyrian Crystal to perform some great magic. She died in the doing, of course. I wish I could remember more, but there isn't any time for contemplation.

The process is both simple and complex. I'm going to have to release the full power of the Crystal, but in a way that isn't destructive. This thing has the power of life and death. I'm going to use the power of life. The problem is, of course, that it will kill me. And there is a very good chance that it will not work at all.

But I have to remember who I'm doing this for.

I feel ... out of my body, but still rooted in it. I can feel my legs begin to tremble, prelude to a collapse. I know, with a strange dispassionate certainty, that if my body collapses, I will fail in my aims.

So it is with great relief that I feel strong arms supporting my body. Lita. Of course. As though from a great distance, I can hear her screaming at me. "Raye! Don't do this! You'll die! Just like Queen Serenity!"

There had been time enough to worry about minor, unimportant details like that before I started on this. I command the Crystal to find Serena's spirit. Instantly, I am moving at a great speed. Or part of me is. Part of me is rooted in my body, still. I know, somehow, that if I release my grip on my body, I will die, and the task will not be completed. The same will happen if I release my hold on the Crystal ... or perhaps its spiritual analogue, wherever the part of me that is outside my body is.

I am being stretched taut.

It ... hurts.

But I have to remember who I'm doing this for.

Back in the real world ... or is where my spirit is moving at such great speed the real world, and that other just a shadow? ... back where my body is, I can hear Lita shouting some more. "Darien! Help me! Help her!"

Silly girl. He won't leave her body.

Her voice becomes more frantic. "Godammit, Darien, she's doing this out of love for you! She needs you!"

Oh, Lita, _why_ did you have to go and tell him that? I've done my best to keep him from realizing how I felt about him for so long since the final battle, since he remembered being Tuxedo Mask ... since he remembered loving Serena.

But it won't matter. He won't leave her body.

I'm being stretched even tighter. I ... can't ... hold ... on ... I ...

"Raye."

That voice. I remember hearing that voice for the very first time. It was mocking Serena, then. Later, I remember it speaking to me in words of tenderness ...

"Raye, please come back. I've already lost Serena. I couldn't bear to lose both of you."

Strong arms holding me up.

Oh, Lita. How wrong you are. I remember other things, now. Watching a film with the girls. An American film. E.T. A scene where a woman is reading a fairy tale to her child. Peter Pan. "Do you believe in fairies?" she asks. "Clap your hands if you believe in fairies." Clapping noise to the side of me. Turning my head. Serena watching the film in rapt adoration, her hands still clapped together. Innocence in her eyes.

It is not just for him. It is for her, too.

And another time. Walking, alone. Turning a corner, and realizing that they are standing together under a streetlamp. Hiding. But still watching. They do not kiss. They just stand, holding each other. Gazing into each other's eyes. Loneliness. I will never be a part of that. It is just for them. I can't do anything for them.

Until now.

It is not just for him. It is not just for her. It is for them.

They deserve to be together. And those who would separate them, _in the name of Mars, I will punish you._

Strength. Strength greater than I have ever had fills me.

I can see her spirit, closer now. I am not surprised that she has wings. Closer. Closer yet. The Silver Empyrian Crystal will bring her spirit back, and heal the wounds she recieved. It can do that.

The price is no object.

I am almost close enough to touch her spirit.

And the Crystal bursts into flames.

They are burning me. It is agonizing.

But I cannot stop until it ... is ... done ...

And I am falling back to my body.

My hands are wreathed in flames. Not the red flames I command, but silver ones. Lita is holding my hands shut around the Crystal, and they are burning her as they burn me.

I force my hands apart. The flames stop, instantly, as the Crystal drops to the ground.

I sag, beginning to fade to darkness. A darkness made colder by the sure certainty that I've failed.

And then, a voice. The most beautiful voice I can imagine. "I feel awful. What's with Raye?"

She's alive.

Darkness.

* * *

Light. And a face. Male, early thirties. Holding a flashlight.

"How are you feeling, Ms. Hino?"

I want to say, "Like I'm dead", but I can't. Throat too dry.

"You're in the Juban Hospital. You were in serious condition, but you're all right now. Would you like something to drink?"

Slowly, I lift my head to take a sip of the water that I'm being offered. Grandfather is crouched at the end of the bed, staring at me anxiously. My hands are swathed in bandages. They feel very hot.

"Your friends told us that you tried to put out a fire in the park by yourself, and were burned doing so. Is that correct?"

I nod, and croak an affirmative.

"That was very foolish. You could have been seriously hurt. You're very lucky that your friends found you in time."

"Yes. Yes, I am."

The doctor smiles that I have seemingly taken his chastening to heart, and continues. "You have second degree burns on your hands and arms. You also seem to have had a serious shock of some sort. We can probably discharge you tomorrow morning."

The doctor turns to go. "Only one visitor at a time, okay? You've got quite a crowd waiting for you." He heads out the door.

Grandfather is staring at me very oddly. I try to meet his gaze, and can't quite.

"You aren't so careless as to try to put out a fire by yourself, Raye ... you've been around fire since you were a very young girl, and you respect its power ... so I think that you lied to the doctor."

"Grandfather, I -"

"No. I know also, that you would not lie, unless it was for a good reason. But the good reason must be a secret you have to keep. So, I won't ask, so that you won't have to lie to me." Grandfather smiles his twisted little grin. "None of my business, right?"

I blink several times, to keep the tears from my eyes.

Grandfather gets up, and walks towards the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a really cute nurse I saw coming in. I think she needs some spiritual counselling." He makes his googoo eyes at me.

I laugh quietly as he goes out

Lita comes in the door. She's wearing gloves over her hands, so I don't know how badly they're burnt.

She sits down on the edge of the bed, and quietly looks at me without saying a word.

"Why aren't I dead?" I ask quietly.

"I don't know," she replies, shaking her head. "Amy theorized that the Crystal drew the energy that would have killed you out of all three of us ... you, me, and Darien. You got the worst of it, it seems. I remember, when we, uh, when we were ... it did draw from all five of us, even though Serena was the only one that was really affected."

"Are you ... okay?"

Lita pulls off one of the gloves. While her hand is beet red, it seems to be in better condition than mine are. "And with the drain of life-force ... I don't know. I feel a little empty ... but I should get better soon." She smiles. "I have a lot of life-force to build on."

We're silent for a few moments.

"Why did you do it?" she finally asks.

"Because we're supposed to protect her, and I didn't do a good enough job. Because I couldn't stand the look in Darien's eyes when he saw she was dead." Long pause. "And because I didn't want to have to be around when you explained what happened to her to her parents."

She nods. "You're a better person than I thought you were, when we met last year."

I try to shrug that off. "You would have done the same thing."

She smiles ironically. "I would have sacrificed my life to save that of someone who had a prior claim on the heart of the great love of my life? I guess you don't know me as well as you think."

Before I can answer that, she leans down, and kisses me on the forehead. It's a warm kiss. It completely disrupts my train of thought.

And then she gets up to leave.

For a long moment, I don't think I'm going to have any more visitors. Then Darien steps into the doorway.

He looks very nervous. I wonder why he's so embarrassed to be around me. He holds out a bouquet of flowers.

Yellow roses.

Without saying anything, he puts them in the vase on the dresser beside my bed. Then he sits down in the chair. He looks as though he's looking for a way to say something.

"I don't remember you," he bursts out finally. "I mean, I remember you ... but I don't remember us. It's like the Moonlight Knight took the memories away, and then didn't return them when he merged with me. So I don't know if ... I mean, I know that we went on dates ... but was I ... did we ... were you ..." He trails off, finally.

I'm tempted to say, `None of your business,' but I don't. "It doesn't matter, Darien."

"But ..."

"You're in love with Serena. That's the way things are, and that's the way that they've been for thousands of years, and that's the way they're going to stay."

He stares at me for a few more minutes. "I think that ... the three of us should have a talk about this."

I shake my head. "Won't do any good. If you dump Serena again, I swear I won't have anything to do with you at all."

"I didn't mean ..." he protests.

"Darien, just accept it. And take very good care of her." I smile predatorally. "Or else. And you've seen my or else."

He smiles suddenly. I wonder, momentarily, if he's going to kiss me, but he doesn't. He simply nods, heads for the door. Before exiting, he turns back.

"I almost wish that I didn't love Serena as much as I do ... because I can't help but think that I didn't care about you as much as I should have when we were dating ..."

"You cared, Darien. I knew you cared."

He nods, and then leaves.

And I'm alone for a few minutes.

Then the nurse pushes a wheel-chair bound Serena into the room. "Now, Ms. Tsukino, you shouldn't be exerting yourself like this ..."

"But I gotta see Raye! It's important!"

The nurse lets out a sigh. I recognize that sigh. I've given it myself.

Serena leans forward in the chair to talk to me. Then, suddenly, she realizes that the nurse is still here, and glares at her. "Ahem. Privacy, please?"

"Whatever the two of you want to talk about, I'm sure you can do it in front of me."

Serena starts to fret. Before she comes up with an idiot plan to get rid of the nurse that will almost surely blow up in our faces, I decide to head her off at the pass. "If the little meatball head wants to talk to me privately, there's a few things that I'd like to say to her that are for her ears only, too. Could you wait out in the corridor? Please?"

The nurse frowns. Then sighs, shrugs, and heads out into the corridor.

"Boy, that was way easier than the idea I had," Serena says admiringly.

"Why are you in the hospital? I would have thought that the ... thing healed all your injuries."

She shakes her head. "No ... just the ones that ... I can't believe that I was almost actually ... wow."

Wow. She comes up with wow to describe what we just went through. "You weren't almost actually anything. You were there."

"And you brought me back. Why?"

Blink. "Whaddayamean, why?"

"You're always insulting me, teasing me, hitting me ... I don't understand why you'd want to keep me around. I don't understand you at all."

She doesn't understand me.

This wondrous child - who has taught me more about compassion and caring than I ever thought possible; who never ceases to amaze me in the depths of her concern for others; who is a miracle and a blessing on the human race - doesn't understand me.

"Good," I say, "we're even."

A lot can change in five minutes.

But some things never should.


End file.
